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Jail Inmate Prematurely Released

The premature release of a Sebastian County Adult Detention Center inmate on Thursday has sparked an internal investigation into the jail’s filing system.

Casey Lambert, 30, of Washington, Ark., was released from jail at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday after his misdemeanor charges were satisfied in district court by fines and time served, Philip Pevehouse of the Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office said.

However, a pending hold from the Arkansas Department of Correction was not satisfied, Pevehouse said.

Authorities found Lambert in the 2100 block of Grand Avenue about two hours after his release and arrested him, Pevehouse said. He was admitted to the detention center without bond, an official at the jail said.

An internal investigation is under way to determine why Lambert was released, Pevehouse said. After an initial review, it seemed a filing system error had occurred, and that Lambert’s file should have been reclassified once the hold was placed on him on Wednesday, Pevehouse said.

“There’s not a lot of technology right now because we’re using a pretty antiquated system,” Pevehouse said. “We want to be 100 percent compliant on keeping folks in jail.”

The system is currently undergoing a change in technology, Pevehouse said.

Changes to the filing system, an alert system and facial and fingerprint recognition technology are in the works to replace the manual filing system, Pevehouse said.

The internal investigation will continue before further action is taken, Pevehouse said.